Dream Again
by Lunrav14
Summary: Do not be afraid to open up your eyes and explore. Do not be afraid to open up your mind to new ideas. Do not be afraid to open up your heart and understand those around you. Do not be afraid to dream again. My name is Little Sand, and this is my story. Rated T just in case. Parallel to 'Darkened Waters' (I would suggest reading that fic first).


**Hello FanFiction readers! It's me, Lunrav14.**

**And no, I'm not dead. I just happen to have way too much stuff to do. Curse you real life.**

**Anyway, it's about time that I started a new fanfic, but I had a little trouble figuring out what I should do, and then it hit me. Little Sand, everyone's favorite dream helper. I've always wanted to expand her story, and so this sprung up out of my imagination. I though she needed a little bit of attention, and let's face it, if you've read 'Darkened Waters', which I would suggest before reading this fanfic even if they are parallels of each other, you've probably got a few questions concerning, well, everything.**

**Helpful hint: Read 'Darkened Waters' first. Everything will make more sense from here on out.**

**Before most of the chapters, there will be a little bit of commentary from Little Sand herself, so I leave you with I don't own RoTG (just my many OCs) and let Little Sand take it from here.**

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_Hello! I am sure you remember me. My name is Little Sand. I will not spoil anything regarding 'Darkened Waters', well, at least not yet, but I am positive that everyone has, at one point or another, wanted to know my story. After doing a small amount of searching, I finally asked Miss Lunrav14, and she has agreed to let me to tell my story to you and I hope that you will enjoy it. So with your kind attention, I am happy to present "Dream Again__"._

_-Little Sand_

* * *

It is hard to say what my first memory is. The later memories of the dream plain are easier to remember than the earlier ones, but even they are fuzzy. I do remember the night I was created, however, or at least became a member of the mortal world. Perhaps I should explain. For the longest time, I lived on the dream plain, somewhere that is beyond the wildest dreams of humanity. It is a vast place that is ever changing, and now that I look back, it is one of the strangest places that could be imagined by any living being, but I will try to explain as best I can. It is like a grassland, with fields stretching in every direction for countless miles, but the grass is shifting its shape and form, changing into whatever it needs to be. Transparent creatures float without aim, but begin to take shape the when attention is focused on them. It is not a very good, or even remotely accurate, description. Even trying to make sense of that strange land gives me massive headaches.

Either way, I had been there for quite some time, for sometime shorter than an age and longer than an eon. I was simply an idea, not much more than a passing thought of a child. I was one of the ever shifting creatures that took form as needed, becoming what I had to at the time, a dream spirit. As to be expected, I would grace the dreams of countless children while they slept, becoming animals, pirates, and even childhood crushes. My existence, I was not exactly alive after all, was full of confusion, but I knew no other. Anything I did know, I picked up from the dreaming children, and there was not a lot going on in there either...

But I am getting very of topic.

Out of all children who I had graced the dreams of, my favorite was a little girl by the name of Ella. She came to the same place every night, and every night she dreamed of fairies. As to be expected, every time I saw her, I took the shape of a fairy. Most nights we would skip through meadows, other dream spirits joining us in our merriment. It was like this every night, and I felt something akin to happiness when I was around her. Of course, she always had to leave, but I became increasingly aware that Ella seemed more aware of her dreams than other children, and I was interested in this young mortal girl.

One night, a night that I will never forget, it was just Ella and me together. Ella seemed a more energetic tonight, even if she was just dreaming. She faced me, a huge smile planted on her face. Curious as to why Ella seemed so happy, I flew around her head. Ella seemed to really like what I was doing, and she clapped and smiled. That happiness, however, could not last too much longer, as I sensed that Ella was going to wake up soon, so I turned to leave, waving good-bye. As I was fluttering away, Ella reached out her hand, grabbing mine. Looking at me, her eyes filled with youthful energy, pulling me towards her.

"Come on!" she exclaimed. Before I could register what was going on, Ella jumped, not landing on the semi-solid grasslands, but rather sinking down into the ground, dragging me along with her. The dream plain almost instantly vanished as we plunged under the grasslands, replaced with utter darkness surrounding us on all sides. It grew eerily quiet; there was not a sound to be heard. I should have been terrified, but I was amazed at the change in scenery, curious as to where we were. Ella didn't seem to even notice we surrounded by darkness; she looked just as content as she did on the dream plain, or rather, that is how I think she must have looked because she did not cry out in fear. She kept on leading us through the darkness, somehow knowing the path out of the never-ending darkness. I could not see a thing, not even the hand that was my lifeline.

As we dropped further and further down into murky blackness, Ella suddenly let go of my hand. There was no warning to it, and the second she let go, I plummeted downwards. I desperately reached in every direction for something to hold on to. There probably was no need to. Now not only I free falling through the darkness, but I only wanted for some way to stop my descent and for the never ending blackness, because I was down right terrified. It was probably around that time that I blacked out.

* * *

When I finally came to, I sat up in shock. All around me were sand dunes. Gray sand, a welcome relief after nothing but black, stretched forever in every direction. Above me was an inky blackness that could only be the area below the dream plain. I had no idea where I was, but I figured that the sand dunes had to lead somewhere. Maybe they would even lead me back home. As I began to float over the dunes, a strange glow from my left caught my attention. I curiously floated over to the glow and saw a golden river of sand flowing through the sand plains. The golden river was different from anything I had ever seen before, even more so than the darkness I had just tumbled out of, but I was curious, perhaps too curious for my own good. I did not know where I was, but the only way out of this strange place seemed to be either the dunes or the river. While I had a feeling both would take me to the same place, I liked the river better. My mind made up, I floated over the river, wondered if i would regret my decision, and dropped straight in.

As I plunged into the golden river, I felt warmth for the first time. Those that live on the dream plain do not truly feel anything really, so it felt surprising, but in a good way. Along with warmth came emotions as well. I felt happy, overwhelmed, and joyful all at the same time, along with a tingling sensation. I kept descending into the river, the sand swirling around me as I went lower. It began to spin faster and faster until I could not tell if I was still going down. Through the swirling sand, I began to make out someone swimming in the river as well. I was too bewildered to do much of anything, but whoever it was started to swim towards me. The figure became clearer and I knew who it was. It was Ella! She grabbed my hand through the swirling sand, holding tight as she dove ever deeper into the river. I did not know how she was able to navigate the swirling sand, keeping on a path that I could not see, but nevertheless, she followed it straight to the bottom. A pin prick of light began to form at the very bottom, and Ella dove for it. We hit the light, and for the second time in a very short time, I blacked out.

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was how dark it was. Not 'under the dream plain' dark, but there wasn't a whole lot of light either. Looking around, I found myself in a small room, but I still had no clue where I was. There were some small toys scattered on the floor, an old, worn out dresser, a small hand mirror, and a rickety bed. In the bed laid Ella, her eyes open just a crack. She was much larger here than on the dream plain; I felt minuscule compared to her. Ella looked at me and smiled, before closing her eyes. There was no sign of the light that had led us out of the golden river. The only light I could find belonged to the stars outside. _Stars? _I thought to myself. _There have not been stars anywhere I have been so far. The only place I can think of that has stars is..._

It was right around then that I realized I was in the mortal world. I suppose I should have realized it sooner, considering I knew that humans return to the mortal world when waking, but I had just lost consciousness for the second time in about ten minutes (dream plain time is very strange). My initial reaction was shock, but curiosity soon replaced it. The mortal world had always fascinated me, and now that I was here, I was even more excited. Who knew what new wonders awaited me?

I flew over to the hand mirror, not entirely sure how I looked anymore. The mirror showed a small fairy with golden skin, hair, and eyes. A little dress hung off my shoulders, stopping just short of my knees, golden in color as well. My feet were bare. Delicate golden wings sprouted from my back with slight swirls forming a simple pattern. The thing that surprised me the most, however, was that I was made entirely out of sand. The color and texture reminded me of the golden sand from the river.

While I was looking myself over in the mirror, I did not notice that a stream of golden sand had appeared on top of Ella's head. In awe, I watched the sand twist and turn into a scene of a little girl dancing with fairies buzzing around her head. The sand moved and twisted, constantly changing the scene playing out over Ella's head. Flying over to the sand, I experimentally poked the sand girl, and the sand girl burst out laughing. Intrigued, I began to mold the sand with my fingers, creating more fairies for the girl to play with. The sand girl seemed to really like that, so I moved over to the sand girl and molded a pair of wings for her. I continued to do this for a while, constantly molding and changing the sand scene.

**"You are pretty good at this,"** I heard someone say into my mind. I turned around and gasped in surprise. A short man made completely of golden sand floated just outside Ella's bedroom window. Well, almost completely. He had a human like face, hands, and hair. He was a little on the chubby side, but he had the friendliest face I had ever seen in all my existence and three and a half hour life span. I knew immediately, however, that this man wasn't like Ella. He wasn't human. At the same time, I knew he was not like me either.

**"Who are you?"** I asked with my mind, too surprised to ask much else. The man smiled. A small stream of golden sand swirled up into his hand and formed into a hat. The man tipped it in my direction, bowing slightly in my direction.

**"Hello. I am Sanderson Mansnoozie, but I'm more commonly called the Sandman,"** the man said. To this day, I do not know why, but I instantly felt that I could trust the man floating outside Ella's window. He reminded me of a dream spirit, to a certain extent, and of the golden sand from the river. The name 'Sandman' also rung a mental bell, one spoken of whispers from other dream spirits. I had no solid evidence, but I knew that this man couldn't be bad. I suppose a human would call it a gut feeling. Either that or naiveté.

**"Hello, Mr. Sanderson," **I replied, curtseying in politeness. Mr. Sanderson smiled, floating into the room. He did not make a sound as he lightly landed on the bedroom floor. Ella didn't stir as Mr. Sanderson entered the room, almost as if she couldn't sense his presence. Mr. Sanderson's eyes landed on Ella and he smiled softly. The golden sand over Ella's head continued to shift and move, the little sand girl always playing with the little sand fairies.

**"I would guess that you have taken a liking to the sand, correct?"** Mr. Sanderson asked me. I nodded my head yes. Mr. Sanderson smiled, his eyes sparkling with wisdom and kindness.

**"What if I told you that each grain of sand holds a dream?"** Initially surprised, I thought about the question for a little bit before responding. The golden sand did seem to change its shape like the dream plain can, and the pictures forming over Ella's head did look like dream spirits acting out dreams for children. It certainly was not the strangest thing I had experienced that day. Looking back up to Mr. Sanderson, I slowly nodded my head.

**"I think I would believe you,"** I replied. **"Are we made of the same sand?"**

**"Yes. You and I are made of dreamsand as well,"** Mr. Sanderson told me. **"We can give humans dreams, just like the sand. My job is to give the children, and sometimes the adults as well, dreams, among other duties. Normally, when I find someone like you, they have trouble even using dreamsand at first. You seem to be getting along just fine on your own."**

** "Thank you, Mr. Sanderson," **I said sheepishly,** "But I really do not know what I am doing. It was a lot of trial and error"** Mr. Sanderson silently laughed.

**"At first, that is really all anyone can do, but many things are best learned without trial and error. If you would like, I can help you to learn how to control dreamsand,. Of course, you do not have to if you choose not to,"** Mr. Sanderson said. I looked at the sleeping figure of Ella, sweet little Ella, who was nothing like me or Mr. Sanderson. She was sound asleep, unaware of anything that was taking place in her bedroom. Leaving her would be hard, but I had a feeling she would be alright. I nodded yes to Mr. Sanderson.

**"Well, I really do not have anything better to do, so I think I will go with you,"** I stated. Mr. Sanderson smiled, motioning for me to follow him. We floated out of Ella's room and into the night sky. I saw many beautiful trees and houses below us, and the land was not changing into mountains or great oceans. It would take a little getting used to, but I was now in the mortal world. Things were different here, and I had to learn how they worked. As we traveled high into the sky, Mr. Sanderson turned to me.

**"What is your name?"** he asked me. I thought about the question for a moment, before realizing something very important about the human world that I had not considered. Everyone has a name, and I certainly did not have one.

**"I do not have one, and I would not know where to begin to pick one,"** I told Mr. Sanderson. **"Is it not traditional for someone like a parent or guardian to give someone like me a name?"** I asked. Mr. Sanderson nodded and proceeded to become deep in thought for a little while, his hand tapping his chin as we continued to float over large swaths of land. A few times, it looked like Mr. Sanderson had an idea, but he would just shake his head and go back to thinking. After we had flown for a good stretch of time, his face lit up.

**"What do you think of Little Sand?"** Mr. Sanderson finally asked. Little Sand. I rolled it around my head a little bit. It wasn't like a normal human name, I knew a few of those, but then again, I wasn't human. The name was easy to remember, which helped considering I had to remember it. I thought 'Little Sand' described me pretty well and I liked the way it sounded. Later, I would learn that my name would become synonymous with 'cute and adorable fairy', but that's another story.

**"I like it,"** I replied. Mr. Sanderson nodded his head. Smiling, he took my small hand and shook it.

** "Then it is very nice to meet you, Little Sand."**

* * *

**So there you have it. The first chapter of a new fanfic. I'd love to hear how you guys like it, so please review. *please, please, please***

**Little Sand likes them as much as I do *twinkle eyes*.**


End file.
